World News

World News

Nigeria's New Anti-Gay Law A Harsh Reminder Of Global Attitudes

11:35am January 18, 2014

This week, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan quietly signed into law one of the most repressive anti-gay measures in the world. NPR's Lynn Neary talks to Jonathan Cooper of the U.K.-based international gay rights group Human Dignity Trust about the state of gay rights in Nigeria and around the world.

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A Newsprint Shortage Hobbles Venezuelan Media

6:20pm January 17, 2014

by John Otis

Venezuela is running out of newsprint and newspapers are shutting down. Media outlets say that it's another form of harassment by a government that often doesn't like what independent media reports.

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German farmer Rudolf Buehler and other opponents of the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement protest with 17 pigs in front of the chancellor's office building in Berlin on Wednesday.

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German Farmers Fear For Europe's Bacon With U.S. Trade Deal

9:12pm January 15, 2014

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

German farmers protested Wednesday against a free trade deal with the U.S. that could lift restrictions on American meat sold in Europe. The farmers say they are worried not just about poor quality meat but about unfair competition.

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Sharon, flanked by Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (left) and Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon, reads a statement during the weekly Cabinet meeting at Sharon's office, on June 13, 2004, in Jerusalem.

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Ariel Sharon, Whose Life And Career Shaped Israeli History, Dies

12:09pm January 15, 2014

by Mike Shuster

The former prime minister, who had been in a coma after suffering a massive stroke in 2006, died on Saturday. Sharon's career spanned the birth of the nation and most of its essential turning points. Israelis had a love-hate relationship with him that was beginning to soften only shortly before his death.

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In a $16 billion deal this week, Japanese beverage giant Suntory announced it plans to purchase Beam Inc., maker of Jim Beam and owner of other popular bourbon brands, including Maker's Mark.

Soon To Be Big In Japan, Jim Beam's Roots To Stay In Kentucky

10:48am January 15, 2014

by Rick Howlett

In a deal worth some $16 billion, Japanese beverage giant Suntory is buying Beam Inc., maker of Jim Beam bourbon and owner of well-known American brands such as Maker's Mark. Industry leaders say it's a reflection of bourbon's exploding popularity in Asian markets, but some wonder if the new owners will preserve bourbon's Kentucky heritage.

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Though most people rely on cellphones, not pay phones these days, the telephone boxes aren't obsolete. During an art exhibit in summer 2012, artist Benjamin Shine transformed one into a work called Box Lounger, on display here in Central St. Giles in Lond

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Some Brits Not Ready To Say 'Ta-Ra' To Iconic Telephone Box

10:14am January 15, 2014

by Ari Shapiro

A race is on to save Britain's beloved crimson phone booth, threatened not by habitat loss or climate change, but by the ubiquity of cell phones. The country had 92,000 payphones in 2002; now, it has just 48,000. But devotees are finding new uses for the booths.

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On Third Anniversary, Tunisians May Get A Constitution

6:33pm January 14, 2014

by Eleanor Beardsley

Celebrations in Tunisia on Tuesday are marking the third anniversary of the revolution that led to the ouster of its dictator and set in motion the regional uprisings of the Arab Spring. As huge crowds gather in the streets of the capital, members of the National Assembly are voting on a new constitution that has the approval of both secular groups, which are popular in the capital, and Islamists, whose strongholds are in the countryside. New parliamentary elections are expected later this year.

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There are dozens of varieties of borscht — but at its most basic, it's a beet soup with potatoes, tomatoes and often beef or pork.

Borscht Make Your Heart Beet? They're Serving 70,000 Gallons In Sochi

8:57am January 14, 2014

by Serri Graslie

Organizers of the Winter Games are preparing to serve up quite a bit of the hearty, deep-red Russian soup. Which is kind of ironic, says Russian food writer Anya von Bremzen, since borscht carries with it complicated political implications. And not all borschts are created equal, she warns.

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South Sudan's then-Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Peter Adwok Nyaba (center) celebrates the first anniversary of the country's independence in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, on July 9, 2012. Since then, all of South Sudan's Cabinet minis

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How I Almost Got Arrested With A South Sudanese Ex-Minister

2:28pm January 13, 2014

by Gregory Warner

A dozen war heroes from South Sudan's long struggle for independence are now accused of launching a coup to overthrow the democracy they helped create. One of them, Peter Adwok Nyaba, was telling NPR's Gregory Warner about the political roots of the conflict when police came for him.

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A makeshift graveyard outside San Joaquin Parish is now the final resting place of hundreds in the province of Leyte, Philippines.

Filipino Priest Suffers With His Flock Amid Typhoon's Ruins

8:58am January 13, 2014

by Anthony Kuhn

The Rev. Kelvin Apurillo rode out Haiyan on the second floor of his parish church. Two-thirds of his parishioners are now dead, missing or have left, and he's struggling to make sense of the destruction. In the majority Roman Catholic country, the church has played a key role in relief efforts.

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